


in spite of the uneven odds

by knightswatch



Series: Pack Mentality [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Middle School, Pre-Canon, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 04:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5078608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightswatch/pseuds/knightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hajime’s father used to talk about living a life without regrets. He did it in serious tones, with a small frown on his face, looking down at him and Oikawa sprawled on the carpet. He let the cigarette he always seemed to have drape limp from his fingers and nod and say: “Boys, you can never unmake choices in life. You have to be ready for that– that’s how you live without regrets.”</p><p>He never really understood that little speech until thirteen years old and walking home from a late volleyball practice with Oikawa next to him. He was talking about the stars, the only thing that seemed to captivate Oikawa outside of volleyball (and more recently, girls), and Hajime was happy to listen to him go on and on about the constellations that took up the north side of the sky at this time of the year without complaint. Oikawa’s passions were easy for Hajime to get a little bit lost in– he exuded them out of his pores, and as close as they always were, it was inescapable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in spite of the uneven odds

**Author's Note:**

> Someone on my tumblr requested an Iwaoi drabble set in this universe, so have the story of how Iwaizumi became a werewolf!

Hajime’s father used to talk about living a life without regrets. He did it in serious tones, with a small frown on his face, looking down at him and Oikawa sprawled on the carpet. He let the cigarette he always seemed to have drape limp from his fingers and nod and say: “Boys, you can never unmake choices in life. You have to be ready for that– that’s how you live without regrets.”

He never really understood that little speech until thirteen years old and walking home from a late volleyball practice with Oikawa next to him. He was talking about the stars, the only thing that seemed to captivate Oikawa outside of volleyball (and more recently, girls), and Hajime was happy to listen to him go on and on about the constellations that took up the north side of the sky at this time of the year without complaint. Oikawa’s passions were easy for Hajime to get a little bit lost in– he exuded them out of his pores, and as close as they always were, it was inescapable.

“Where’s Orion?” He asked after a breathless tirade about the next time Mars would be visible finished. Oikawa blinked before smiling even brighter, looking up at the sky and gripping the back of Hajime’s jersey, letting his steps guide him without a worry as to where they might be going. Blind faith.

“You can’t see all of Orion right now, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa explained but pointed above their heads, his arm resting on Hajime’s shoulder to guide his line of sight, both of them stopping to look up. “But there’s Orion’s belt– you see it?”

Only because of so many years of asking, he was able to find the three aligned stars fairly easily and nodded his head. “Yeah, I see it.”

“Orion is your favorite, right?” Oikawa’s voice was a grin next to Hajime’s ear, but he didn’t pull his eyes off the stars to snap at him yet. He wasn’t sure if he could actually call Orion his favorite– as a small child he had decided to learn the name of just one constellation so he could always ask Oikawa about it rather than trying to remember them all. But, from there it had grown into a fondness for the story, so he nodded anyway.

“I guess so, yeah,” he shrugged his shoulders, looking over at Oikawa with a nod. “We should get home.”

“Is Iwa-chan scared of the forest at night?” The shortest route to both their houses was through a thick strand of woods, the same one that Hajime had caught beetles in as a child, using them to scare Oikawa. He rolled his eyes, voice coming out a growl.

“Of course I’m not scared, you idiot. I’m hungry,” he started walking, and only after a moment realized he wasn’t the only thing growling, and that the reassuring warmth of Oikawa next to him was suddenly gone. He whipped around on one heel, entirely prepared to snap at Oikawa once again to keep up or be left in the woods all night long, until he saw the massive dog standing between them.

It’s fur was a dirty mix of rust and black, with a plumed tail curled over its back and pointed ears pressed flat to his head. It stood at least to Hajime’s ribcage and was currently advancing on Oikawa with slow steps.

For all the speeches Hajime had heard in his life about making choices he wouldn’t regret, this one didn’t take any thinking at all. He shrugged the bag off his shoulder, gripping the strap between both hands and swinging it with all his weight, hitting the dog in the side. Oikawa– proving what an idiot he was in life, didn’t run when the dog turned to Hajime instead, snapping its jaws, saliva dripping away from its mouth.

There was something disturbing about staring back into the beast’s dark brown eyes, something terribly human and cruel in them, not the eyes of a confused or rabid animal. Hajime didn’t have time to swing his bag again, the dog leaped at him, knocking him flat on his back and making the air leave his body in a single pained huff.

The sense that he couldn’t breathe was quickly forgotten to the burning pain of teeth clamping down on his right shoulder, bones crunching under the force of the bite while Hajime struggled and tried to kick the dog in its stomach, anything to make it let go of him.

There was the sound of leaves whipping through the air above him, but Hajime couldn’t see anything but the distant twinkle of stars through the canopy of trees. He wasn’t truly aware of anything else until the teeth unclenched from his shoulder, followed by a yelping sound, Oikawa’s voice yelling distantly, animal feet scrambling through brush.

Next it was Oikawa’s face hovering over his, eyes already welling with tears. Hajime groans, using his other arm to push himself up, shaking his head and gritting his teeth around the groan of pain that wants to climb out of his mouth. Oikawa was such an ugly crier, and it wasn’t as if anything were really that bad. “Don’t cry.”

“Iwa-chan you idiot!” He cried anyway, wiping his face on his arm and reaching out to tangle their fingers together, clinging desperately to Hajime’s hand with his eyes closed. “Why would you do that?”

“Not like I was going to let it bite you,” he wrapped his good arm around Oikawa’s shoulder, leaning more weight on him to keep it off himself, pressing his cheek against the soft mess of Oikawa’s hair. He waited for Oikawa to cry himself out, and then made him help walk them both home, blood running down his arm and his body screaming in protest at every moment.

Blind faith. No regrets. Even through the transformation that follows, Hajime carried the weight of them both.


End file.
